abuse but the result of new policies that have gone overboard. policies put in place after some high profile recent child abuse cases in this district. some staff members tell us it's now to the point that if you touch a filed at all you run the risk of being put on leave and that students know they can make up allegations to get rid of teachers they don't like. most of those staff members moo are accused of abuse and up on paid leave so teachers are removed from their classrooms sometimes for months on end as they're under investigation. we talked to be a long time substitute and former d.c. cop who was accused and then cleared. she says she won't go back to teaching for this district because it's too risky. >> i was cleared of all charges. but you disciplined me. i was guilty first. it's something should be done. something must happen. >> reporter: there are a lot of questions that we have for this school ceo, dr. kevin

to prevent a repeat of this same situation next year? we've been trying for more than a month now to schedule a sitdown interview with him. that has been unsuccessful so we're here at this meeting to and night to get answers. in upper marlboro lindsey watts fox5 local news. >> developing right now, the fbi is investigating a republican campaign consulting firm in maryland. this morning the fbi agents searched the annapolis office of strategic campaign group and they seized some records there. the president of the company says the investigation has to do with work performed during ken cuccinelli's campaign. the firm settled a civil lawsuit that cuccinelli brought after he lost to terry mcauliffe. two lawmakers say they'll stop doing business with the form. >> five howard university students are suing the college under title ix. they claim schedule assaults were not properly

community days before commencement. alexandria limon moan live in north much northwest on details of the lawsuit and reveals life for some of these students was a nightmare on campus. >> reporter: imagine being raped or sexually assaulted and then having to see your attacker regularly in class or worse having to live with them in the same dorm room. that's what some of these women say happened to them after the university if i -- failedto take action. >> these women experienced sexual assault and they were not supported by the university. >> reporter: the historically black college in washington, d.c. was slapped with a lawsuit wednesday. five female students allege inaction and mishandling of investigations after they reported rapes and sexual assaults on campus. some of the women say they were harassed and confronted by their attackers after reporting what happened. and they claim the university did nothing.

>> reporter: in march of last year, a protest broke out and there was a firestorm on twitter after two of the victims discovered they were attacked by the same student. >> our client's perspective is that if the university had taken action on that first report, he may not have been on campus. he may not have ever met our other client and she may not have been attacked. >> you know, the #no means no spread around campus on twitter and social media and all that and people start having -- discussing having conversations on campus. >> reporter: one of those women who spoke out on twitter says the dean of student affairs at howard university told her "you embarrassed your family by doing that." another woman saying the school claims her attacker what you mean campus police officer hoop sexually and physically assaulted her. all five women claim their cases were investigated slowly, if at

didn't provide appropriate counseling or accommodations to extend school deadlines after they were attacked. >> they have experienced depression, they have been suicidal, they -- and they expressed those things to the university and still the university failed to act. >> reporter: now, i did reach out to the director of the title ix office. she's the person in charge of overseeing these sexual assault investigations. she referred me to the communications office for comment instead. and they sent us a statement that said in part "howard university takes very seriously allegations of sexual assault sexual harassment and gender based discrimination occurring on the university's campus or involving unit students. the unit has been and remains committed to diligently investigating any such allegations to assure a safe and healthy community. the university also

can't comment on these five cases specifically because of privacy and pending litigation. reporting live in northwest d.c., alexandria limon, fox5 local news. >> president trump says the decision to fire fbi director james comey was solely his own. today in an interview with nbc's left holt the president said he was planning to if i recall comey long before the recommendation. he called comey a showboat. >> he said it twice during phone calls. >> did you call him? >> in one case i called him in one case he called me. >> and did you ask him. i under investigation. >> i actually asked him, yes. i said if it's possible, would you let me know. i under investigation. heed you a he said you are not under investigation. >> you may recall the white house said the rank and file at the fbi had lost confidence, that was one of e

comey go. dam acting fbi director andrew mccabe testified comey enjoyed broad support within the bureau. tweet us your thoughts on the firing of james comey. use that #5at630 and look for your tweet on our political show coming up in about 24 minutes. >> well, today federal officials announce a massive operation that led to the arrest of gang members linked to illegal immigration. since the operation started in march, 1,378 people have been arrested. $491,000 seized 238 guns but recently ice put both montgomery and prince george's county on a list of communities that they say refuse to cooperate with ice detainers. the director tells fox5 this hurts law enforcement and puts the public at risk. >> when they get released without our attention they're back in the streets. now we have to find the individual. we know the recidivism rate is between 30 and 40 percent and they're

crime in many case. >> 52 people arrested in d.c. maryland and virginia with more than half of them members of the ms-13 gang. >> new details now on the investigation into former d.c. public schools chancellor kaya henderson. fox5 learned she may have given seven people special treatment. now the recent news led to an investigation by the city's inspect general who says the information will not be released because children are involved. fox5 learned the names connected to this case are deputy mayor courtney snowden who admitted to talking with chancellor henderson because of her son's unique needs. today we asked the mayor for any more information that she could give us about this investigation. >> i believe that he said that there were -- there was a cabinet member involved, a government officials involved and private citizens involved. but they weren't the subject of his investigation. and he was careful to say that because they weren't the subject of

and suspected of any wrongdoing, that their names would not be released. >> we also requested an interview with the inspector general but we were declined. >> ahead at 6:00 a bold thief finds an easy while swipe cash from the convenience store when the cashier isn't looking. >> you don't want this happening the next time you ride metro. the door is opened on the wrong side. wow. take a look at that. hey, sue. >> that's kind of scary shaun. a lot of people probable orange line deciding to ride metro today instead of slogging it out in the rain. if i have any good news at all, we're seeing the rain lighten up, it's mostly just drizzle or light rain. we get a little bit of a break during the day tomorrow and then our next round of rain is coming in so we'll talk about the weekend in detail coming up in just a few minutes. good news is it's not a washout. jim. >> all right. and if you have a story idea give us a call at fox5 (202) 895-3000 or e-mail those tips

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>> ♪ >> today a guilty plea from the man accused of killing an elderly woman in wheaton back in 2016. we have the chilling 911 call her neighbor made days after 72-year-old linda johnston had been stabbed to death. >> what exactly is going on there? >> uh, well, her sister was worried about her because she hasn't answered the phone for a couple days. so, she -- i had -- i'm her neighbor and, uh, so i went in there and the doors were locked and i opened the door and the front door and i yelled for her but it just didn't look right. >> okay, so you want to check the welfare of your neighbor. >> yes. >> okay, when you say didn't look right, did you see anything in specific that makes you worried. >> there's a bad odor. >> prosecutors say kwasi sadler broke into linda johnston's home last august

times. he also stole the victim's purse and went on a shopping spree with her credit cards. he's due back in court in september. >> metro investigating after a door opened on the wrong side of the platform. this happened yesterday. wrong door opening under on a red line train at rhode island avenue. no one was hurt but the train operator has been removed from service for the time being. a bold thief reaches across the counter at a convenience store off naylor road in southeast. the thief able to grab money from the register before taking off. if you know anything, give police a call. a 17-year-old arrested and charged a gang related murder of a gaithersburg teen will be tried as an adult. the teen one of 10 people arrested in the case. she admitted to stabbing a 15-year-old multiple times. and in a nearly two year investigation authorities in maryland and virginia have confiscated 600,000 cartons of illegal cigarettes with a

police arrested four men following traffic stops in cecil last ford and prince george's counties. officers cones first indicated more than 23,000 packs of illegal cigarettes with a value of nearly $154,000. and more than 7,000 potholes were fixed during d.c.'s pothole palooza. it's over but residents and viewers are encouraged to report potholes by contacting 311. >> a new proposal raising questions called guns for bail. it will allow nonviolent offenders to turn in legal guns as a way to post bail for nonviolent offenses. the chair of city council's public safety committee says the goal is to get as many guns off the street as possible is sponsoring an informational hearing to discuss if the program would work. he hopes it leads to a pilot program that could launch as soon as the summer. >> the level of guns, gun violence that we have in baltimore and other cities across the country is that important for us to hear out these kind of ide

essentially what we're going to do is what we're going to have a is an information hearing where we hear from our police department, from our state's attorney and everyone else involved who has already met with the gentleman who started this program to see if this program could be successful in baltimore. >> so far this year 118 people have been killed, 200 others have been hurt from gun violence in baltimore. well, a controversial civil war era statue was taken down. the extreme measures construction crews had to take when they removed it ahead tonight at 6:30. >> hey everyone, ronica cleary here. we are live at old ebbitt getting the pulse of the people. what do you think about the possibility of a new press secretary. we'll hear from you and tell you why we're asking the question.

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>> ♪ >> well, after a beautifl wednesday, we are in -- i don't even know what you call this thursday. yuck thursday. >> yuck thursday. >> feels like that time when you're bordering on the last days of fall going into winter andt'

zapped my energy. i've had to eat so much sugar today just to get here. >> just get into it. >> somebody brought in a tub of carmel popcorn. >> perfect. >> i'm waiting for everyone to leave so i can go back and get my second cup. you know what, things are getting lighter. so far so good i hadn't heard that the nats were canceling. the road spray you forget what it's like until you have to get out there and try to see through all of that. well, it should be a little bit better this evening and we expect the rain to continue to taper off to either very light rain or drizzle but while you can enjoy the break this evening and for many hours tomorrow but another round is going to come in tomorrow late afternoon and evening and last through at least the first half of saturday the way things are looking right now. it was just under an inch of rain at rig. in dulles and over an inch and a half, one points 67 so far today. bwi about a half inch of r

trending just a little bit south and west of the city and right now we're watching more light batches but notice there isn't much more up to the north and west. i'm going to put this in motion and you'll be able to see that this is just this wave is just about done but drizzle will linger. our winds are out of the east. it keeps us locked in with moisture. so, if you are heading out to the game four nats orioles battle of the beltways it will be a soggy time of it but as you can see again on this perspective clouds will be around many this batch almost done and then the next batch here that's going to pass to our south. it's a little warmer down here so we've got some thunderstorms down in that region but for the rest of us here we're socked in with the cool stuff. no thunderstorms expected. temperature has dropped to 53. some places head for the 40's tonight. already you're down to 50 from in winchester, such a chilly feel in the air and when you compare it to yesterday with all the sunshine and the temperatures that we had in the 70's, what a change. it's 22 degrees colder at this hour than it was at 6 o'clock la

district, 18 degrees colder in frederick and hagerstown and about 20 degrees colder in winchester, so that's where it's going to continue. winds are light but notice the wind direction coming in right off the ocean and that's not going to change in the overnight hours. evening planner is going to feature those low 50's eventually dropping down about 52, maybe even 50 or 51 degrees for our overnight low in the city so not -- doesn't get terribly cool but i'm comfortable feeling if you're out in it. drizzle with a few showers continuing overnight and tomorrow we'll have less rain during the day but a lot of clouds, a little bit of drizzle and then in the afternoon, we expect to see those showers and more rain starting to push on in so drizzle to showers, temperatures stay chilly during the day on friday. keep the rain gear handy but we're not going to pick up in the daylight hours another inch of rain. tomorrow night into saturday, could be a different story. tomorrow afternoon's high temperatures very similar to today with showers developing again. i can't rule out drizzle at any point during the day. low to mid and upper

about the best we can do. association let me take you forward in time with our futurecast and as you'll watch this batch moving on out later tonight we'll start suit on the dry side tomorrow morning with a lot of clouds, again can't rule out the drizzle but drizzle isn't going to show up very well on the futurecast. by the time we get to the noon hour here comes round two starting to get closer and as the afternoon goes on we get closer to the evening rush hour. it looks like the leading edge of that rain will be get, back in. this storm will become a little bit stronger, it becomes a coastal. notice the heavier rain and watch it as it gets closer to the coast and you see more development of the showers and thunderstorms so the heaviest rain with this next batch i think will be a little bit south and east but saturday morning, looks like a lot of those practices may get canceled if this continues to verify. we're still left on the backside with a little bit of shower activity at 6 o'clock but it looks like that should be the worst of it and look at this. maybe we start seeing some clearing skies in the overnight hours leading us into mother's day

should be better. saturday not so great. sunda should start to dry out as high pressure builds on in and with that sunshine, we should see our temperatures getting into the low 70's but a noticeable breeze kicking up between the high building in and the departing area of low pressure so late saturday into sunday i would expect breezes to be pretty noticeable. here's your forecast for the weekend. 57 degrees on saturday. rainy, chilly. sunday some sun back in the forecast, breezy, 74 degrees. so, we're going to pull it off for the moms this year, that is for sure. and get ready to change seasons again because after we ditch the 50's, that feels so fall-like maybe i can come off sugar next week. >> -- [laughter] >> -- i'll get some sunshine and some free vitamin d back. monday 76 degrees, 83 on tuesday. by wednesday and thursday near 90. bring on the complaints that it's too hot. we flip the switch and go from too cool to to hot. >> it is what it is. >> yes. >> tune in at 11:00 for

sugar crash. >> we'll be right back. >> oh, okay, i wasn't sure if we were going do this or not. yes, speaking of sunshine there was some it showed dawn for this northern virginia fan. i'll tell you all about the big surprise they got when we come back. >> and how about a pizza doughnut? >> really. >> yeah. savory combo on the brainchild of jeffrey lamberty. describes the idea as something that came to him in a dream. >> looks like a bagel. >> it's mozzarella cheese tomato sauce an fine crust. he says the treat is very popular with customers. >> bring it on.

narrator: "the time is always right to do what is right. ralph northam. army doctor during the gulf war. volunteer director of a pediatric hospice. progressive democrat. in the senate, he passed the smoking ban in restaurants, stopped the transvaginal ultrasound anti-choice law, and stood up to the nra. as lieutenant governor, dr. northam is fighting to expand access to affordable healthcare. ralph northam believes in making progress every day. and he won't let donald trump stop us.

>> and here's a couple things you missed. fox5 exclusive updated numbers on just how many teachers and staffers being investigated for abuse or misconduct in prince george's county. >> fox5 also confirmed the federal lawsuit was filed against howard university. it claims the school failed to handle reports of sexual assaults on campus in a timely manner. the suit also claims the university refused to provide the help that suicidal rape victims requested. we'll have more on that tonight at 10:00. >> president trump says the decision to fire fbi director james comey was solely his own. in an interview with nbc news' lester holt he called comey "a showboat." >> the fbi investigating strategic campaign group. agents searched is the firm's annapolis office this morning. the president of the company believes the investigation is related to work stemming from

the 2013 virginia gubernatorial campaign. >> a man suspected of gunning down an arkansas sheriff's deputy and two others. he gave himself up. two women found dead inside have not been identified. >> today workers removed the statue of a confederate president jefferson davis in new orleans. it is the second of four confederate monuments slated for removal. it's been such a contentious month long process there about taking the statue down. today workers came in early when it was still dark wearing bulletproof vests and scarves covering their faces and their helmets. >> every year the second thursday in may is keller williams red day which they treat as day of service in the d.c. region. today members of the keller williams family along with other volunteers helped to bring a little sunshine for one northern virginia family. they built a backyard play set for izzy compton a

leukemia. lizzy just knew something was up. >> children just want to play. and i wanted to see that and i wanted that em -- them to forget about cancer a little bit and play and just be an eight-year-old or an 11-year-old and forget about that and just have fun. >> she just took off and she'll be on here in the rain probably the rest of the day. >> yeah. >> how cool is that. >> that's awesome. ryan kerrigan was there, too. made through the positive impact initiative which helps to improve quality of life for chronically ill kids. >> that's awesome. >> have fun playing in the rain. >> they tone mind the rain. >> no, not at all. >> thanks for joining us at 6:00. >> 5 at 6:30 coming up right after the break.

>> ♪ >> 72 hours later and washington is still reeling from the firing of james comey. >> president trump said he made the decision months ago as you can see from the rundown over there on the side of the screen this is the hottest story at 6:30 tonight. we invite you to join the conversation tweet us your thoughts. use that #5at630. let's get to it. >> i was going to fire comey, my decision. it was not. >> you had made the decision before. >> i was going to fire comey. there's no good time to do it by the way. >> because in your letter you